1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to dispensers or coating applicators with integral material supply, more specifically to a hand-held cleanser dispensing sponge apparatus which dispenses soap, detergent or other cleanser from a self-contained reservoir.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are two types of cleanser dispensing sponges, the type for use with water, such as a dish washing aid, and the type used to apply a coating exclusive of an external liquid, such as a self dispensing surgical swab.
The majority of cleanser dispensing sponges, including those for use as dish washing aids operate by dispensing the liquid to the sponge without the assistance of, or in automatic response to work with an external liquid, or workload demand.
Sponges, for example, are supplied with liquid from a reservoir by squeezing the reservoir which is flexible, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,749 awarded to Snyder et al., or as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,865 awarded to Moser, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,301 awarded to Bennarouch, wherein it is delivered from the reservoir by gravity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,288, awarded to Gordon et al., either gravity feed or squeezing the sides of an insertable reservoir is used to force the liquid into the sponge. A resiliently deformable reservoir is squeezed in Turner, U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,560, and in Meyer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,636.
When used with water, such as in cleaning dishes, presently available cleanser dispensing sponges tend to use an excessive amount of soap in a manner unrelated to the work load, because they are manually pumped as described above. Additionally, when handled under water they often rapidly loose their concentrated cleanser supply through accidental deformation of the pumping surface due to swishing of the device therein, by back flush or by rapid diffusion through the sponge.
In order to maintain better control over concentrate dispensing or loss, present systems include moving parts such as the one way valve members used in Turner and in Snyder et al. Others use more complicated mechanisms including trigger and plunger activated pumps.